Phillies fall in home finale

Washington Nationals' Bryce Harper hits a home run off Philadelphia Phillies starting pitcher Tyler Cloyd in the first inning of a baseball game, Thursday, Sept. 27, 2012, in Philadelphia. At right is Philadelphia catcher Erik Kratz. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

PHILADELPHIA -- Just as they failed to do all summer long, the Phillies didn’t produce any magic Thursday night at Citizens Bank Park. They couldn’t -- the probably playoff-bound St. Louis Cardinals had the night off.

Aside from that, the oft off-kilter Phillies did their part, following pitcher Tyler Cloyd in blowing an early lead and succumbing meekly to the playoff-bound Washington Nationals 7-3 in the last home game of the season.

So no magic numbers achieved as yet, but only one more Cardinals win or Phillies loss before the 2012 season is officially allowed to go ... poof!

This season has long gone up in dust ... but can anything good come of it when the smoke clears?

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“The positive thing is that we competed,” Ryan Howard said after an ohfer in three offical at-bats left him at .220 for his shortened season thus far. “I think we were 14 games under .500 (37-51 on July 13). So to be right around .500 or somewhere in there, I don’t think a lot of people thought we’d be able to get back to that. We competed. We never gave up. I don’t think people thought we’d even be in contention to be mentioned in the playoff hunt. So if you’re looking for a positive, you look at that.”

Yet in these feeble final days, there have been few magical indicators of success to come, save perhaps for The Babe ... aka Darin Ruf.

Making his third straight start, the young slugger who made the jump from Reading into the thick of playing-out-the-string baseball in South Philly created another wistful hue and cry from the crowd with a three-run double over center fielder Bryce Harper’s head in the first inning.

But Cloyd wasn’t about to let that early lead not get away on a night where his slow stuff kept finding the middle of the plate.

Before Ruf landed his first-inning shot, the Nats had gone up 1-0 on the strength of a long Harper home run, which came one pitch after Harper had hit an even longer foul ball off Cloyd.

In the bottom of the first, top Cy Young candidate and former Phils prospect Gio Gonzalez suddenly had a wild spell. Chase Utley singled with two outs, then Howard and John Mayberry Jr. walked. That set the stage for Ruf, who picked on a 2-0 fast ball and sent it to the wall in center for a 3-1 lead.

“At 2-0, you know he’s got to come with a pitch around the zone,” Ruf said. “So I was aggessive. ... It’s been incredible to get the opportunity to learn, for the first week or so up here. I’ve been able to settle in and get over the big stadium and crowds and be able to just focus on the game.”

Cloyd didn’t waste time giving that Ruf-hewn lead back, though, as Michael Morse led off the Nationals’ second with a home run. Ryan Zimmerman then started the fourth with a double, and scored on a Morse ground out to tie it at 3-all. And in the fifth, Cloyd put a pair of people on with walks, then issued an RBI single to Harper to put the Nats up for good.

But Cloyd wouldn’t leave until he offered Morse a curtain call. Fresh on the heels of an Adam LaRoche double in the sixth, Morse jumped on another Cloyd bean-bag toss and put it deep into the visitors bullpen below Ashburn Alley for a 6-3 Nationals lead.

That would be all for Cloyd, but not for the Nats.

They tacked one on after reliever Jeremy Horst gave up a single to pinch-hitter Mark DeRosa, walked a couple of other Nats, then fired a pitch past catcher Erik Kratz for a gift run.

As for the Phils (78-78), they were far past the scoring stage on this night. No more rallies, no more free passes from wild Washington pitchers. Just a fitting ending on a Jimmy Rollins popout.

“That’s definitely different from the way we wanted to go,” Charlie Manuel said in a summary statement. “I wish we coulda done better. But that’s baseball, and that’s how it goes. We’ve got to keep trying harder.”

Just one more magic step and this Phillies team that has been on a constant slide since a magical October four years ago will officially begin the long walk toward next season. That’s really what finales are all about.

“We’re just going to go out and try to finish on a high note,” Howard said of the final six games that lie ahead. As for turning this losing trend around beyond that...

“I think we can,” Howard said. “I think what it is, is guys going home this offseason and getting healthy,” he added. “Doc wasn’t healthy, I wasn’t healthy, Chase wasn’t healthy ... we had a rash of injuries. But I think what people have seen these last couple of months, with us making this run, I think it shows what we’re capable of.”